T.F. Green Airport – October 20, 1999

April 17, 2016

T.F. Green Airport – October 20, 1999

On the evening of October 20, 1999, a Delta Airlines jet, (Flight 2049), en-route to Atlanta, Georgia, was taking off from T.F. green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, when a tire blew out as the plane was becoming airborne. Pieces of the tire were sucked into the number 2 engine setting it on fire and causing some smoke to filter into the cabin.

At 6:28 p.m. the pilot declared an emergency and diverted to Boston’s Logan Airport, for it would have taken just as long to turn around and attempt to return to Green. (This type of aircraft can fly with just one engine.) Seventeen minutes later the plane landed safely at Logan at 6:45 p.m.

None of the passengers and crew aboard were injured, but two women were transported to a local hospital; one for anxiety, the other due to suffering a seizure.

The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas MD-80.

Sources:

Providence Journal, “Jet Forced To Land At Logan After leaving T.F. green”, October 21, 1999